Young at Heart
by Rachyrach22
Summary: Brittany Pierce suffers from a very rare growth disease which causes her body to age three times faster than normal human beings. While her brain functions the same as the other kids her age, she is burdened with the appearance of someone much older.
1. Chapter 1

Brittany stood in front of the mirror in her bedroom, her hands smoothing down her long blonde hair. Today was her first day of third grade and she was terrified.  
>She loved to watch the other kids run to the school bus and play outside on their bikes. But up until a month ago when her home school tutor Ms. Kraine suggested she try public school to become more socialized, her mother had always insisted she stay inside. It wasn't all bad, Brittany thought. Her dad had helped her build a pretty awesome clubhouse in her room with old cardboard boxes he swiped from work. She drew pretend windows on the sides with crayon and sometimes her dad would pop his head in at night and read her Peter Cottontail. It was her favorite, even when it wasn't Easter. But as cool as her clubhouse was, and as much as she loved helping her mom bake cookies, Brittany yearned for the outside world. Most of all, Brittany wanted a real friend.<p>

See, Brittany Pierce wasn't quite like the other kids in Lima, Ohio…or kids anywhere for that matter. She had been born seven weeks early and was diagnosed with a very rare development disorder the doctors called Severe Werner Syndrome. Brittany didn't know what it meant, she just knew that the other seven year olds on her block weren't as tall as their mommies yet. And somehow, not only was Brittany taller than her mommy, but also wore bigger shoes and got the same dark circles under her eyes when she was tired.

When Brittany would ask her mom why she looked so different, her mom would cry. Her heart broke for her daughter, her little girl whose life span may only last until shortly after she makes it through high school. Of course she doesn't tell Brittany this, but she dreads it every day. By the time Brittany's brain is eighteen years old, her body will be sixty, and from there, the doctors have told her, things will really start to go downhill. The few people they've seen with this condition, they tell her, have not lived past 30 years old.

"Ready to go, sweetie?" Karen Pierce knocks on her daughter's bedroom door. She's standing in front of her dresser, checking her reflection carefully. She's dressed in a pair of jeans that her mom sewed butterfly patches on, since they don't make butterfly clothes in grown up sizes like Brittany has to wear, and a purple polo shirt.

"Mommy what if the other kids don't like me?" she whimpered.  
>"They will, just show them how nice and fun you are. You always say you want to play with the other kids, don't you?" she replied, fidgeting with the rainbow barrettes in her daughter's hair.<br>"Yeah,"  
>"So just play with them. You'll have fun, I promise. And if anybody is mean to you, just tell the teacher,"<br>Brittany felt better then. She hoped her teacher was a lot like Ms Kraine. Ms. Kraine knew everything; she knew shapes and numbers and how to read her books in fun voices so Brittany didn't get sleepy.

"Go on to the car, baby I'll be right there," Mrs. Pierce told her. She grinned as she watched her daughter grab her pink butterfly backpack and run toward the front door.  
>"Please God, look out for her today," she said under her breath, a tear rolling down her cheek.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

It had taken a while for Mrs. Pierce to be sure about this, but the higher ups at Lima Valley Elementary School had convinced her that they had the resources necessary to deal with her daughter's delicate situation.  
>Yet here she was, sitting in front of the school with Brittany, still too scared herself to let Brittany out of the van. She glanced her daughter up and down for about the thousandth time that morning; cute outfit, check. Backpack full of colorful notebooks and pens Brittany had picked out and couldn't wait to use, check. Unicorn lunchbox with all Brittany's favorites, egg salad and a banana, juice and butterscotch pudding, check.<p>

Brittany watched the kids play eagerly on the playground equipment and couldn't wait to try it out. Her mom had never quite felt comfortable with taking Brittany to the playground, and it was something Brittany had dreamed about ever since she knew she'd be going to school. 

"Mommy look at all that stuff. I'm gonna go on the swings!" she exclaimed. Mrs. Pierce smiled at the thought of her daughter running excitedly toward the swings, her blonde hair whipping back and forth, her legs pumping and she sped through the air, the smile on her face and the giggle that was sure to sneak past her lips once she saw how high she could get. 

"Wait until recess, baby. We have to go meet your principal," she reminded her, and as she gathered copies of Brittany's medical paperwork they headed inside.

Brittany sat cross legged on the floor of the principal's office, coloring in a book she had given her while her mom got down to business. 

"I assure you, Mrs. Pierce, we are prepared to handle this. Brittany's teacher as well as her entire class have been told about her…condition," the principal tried to be delicate, but Brittany knew that mommy hated it when people used that word. 

"I just need to know she will be safe here," her mom replied. 

"I understand. We have a lot of special needs children here. Brittany, honey? Why don't you come up here and sit next to your mom and tell me about yourself?" she asked. Brittany scampered shyly to the open seat and sat down. Noticing she was nervous, the principal held out a jar of lollipops that was previously hidden under her desk. Brittany's eyes widened and she looked to her mom for approval. 

"Just one," she tells her before Brittany plunges her hand into the jar, pulling out an orange one and plopping it into her mouth. 

"So what do you like to do Brittany?" she asked again, crossing her hands on top of her desk.  
>"I like to play," she says, avoiding eye contact like she does with most grown-ups. <p>

"That's good. Do you play with other kids a lot?" 

"Brittany isn't exactly socialized yet…that's part of the reason I'm nervous about this," 

"Well Brittany we have a really cool playground you can play on for recess. And the other kids are always looking for people to play games so I know you'll make some friends," she told her. Brittany nodded excitedly, thinking about the swings again. 

"Mrs. Pierce, I assure you everything will be just fine. It's time to go to class, Brittany. I'll show you where it is," she said standing up. Brittany's mother inhales deeply, nervous to leave, and hugs her daughter. 

"Be good today, okay? Just be nice and friendly to the other kids. And if you get scared just tell the teacher. I love you…so, so much. You're going to be just fine," 

"Love you too, mommy," she replies, clasping her arms around her mother's neck for dear life. 

"Hey, it's okay. You'll have so much fun. I can't wait to hear everything you learn today. Promise you'll tell me everything later?" she attempted to soothe her. 

"Promise," she answered. 

"Okay. I'm going to go now, honey, and Ms. Vaughn is going to take you to your class. Whose my brave girl?" she poked Brittany gently on the nose. 

"Me," the girl replied softly, wishing her mother could stay. 

"That's right. I'll see you in a few hours, baby. Be brave!" she hollered, heading out the door.

Brittany looked around in amazement as Ms. Vaughn walked her through the halls of the school. The walls were covered with colorful art projects. Brittany hoped one day her pictures could be up on the walls. Before she knew it, Ms. Vaughn was leading her into a classroom. The children were talking and giggling loudly while the teacher prepared something on the chalk board. 

"Settle down," Ms. Vaughn said to the kids, and they all faced forward, seeing Brittany. They wouldn't have thought much, maybe just that she was a new teacher, except for she had a little kid lunch box like they all did and rainbow shoe laces in her sneakers. Sure, the teacher had tried to explain to them that the new girl would be a little…different, but this was a surprise to all of them.  
>Brittany felt instantly nervous at all the eyes glued to her and looked down at her feet. <p>

"This is Brittany, she's new here and she's going to be in your class. I expect you'll all treat her with respect and be friendly," Ms. Vaughn announced. A hand shot up in the back of the room. 

"Yes, Noah?" 

"But she's like…a grown up," he pointed out. 

"Am not!" Brittany snapped back. She hated when people called her that. 

"Sh, Brittany it's okay. Kids, we talked about this the other day. Brittany just grows a little faster than most people, that's all. She's just like all of you, and you will treat her that way, understood?" she warned. The class remained silent, some of their jaws still hanging open. 

"I agree, there will be nothing but respect and kindness in this classroom, same as always," the teacher came forward and stood next to Brittany. 

"Hi Brittany, I'm Miss Jenkins. But you can call me Miss J, alright? All the kids do. How about you come over here and sit next to Mercedes?" she led Brittany to a seat near the end of the half circle she had the desks arranged in. 

"Okay class, open your notebooks up, today we're going to learn about telling time!" Ms. J exclaimed excitedly. Brittany pulled out her brand new notebook and pen and tried to ignore some of the people that were still staring at her.

Soon enough, it was time for recess and Brittany found herself following the other kids in a rushed stampede out to the playground. Her heart dropped when she saw all the swings were taken, and the jungle gym looked pretty crowded too. She sighed and walked over to the sandbox where nobody was playing at all. She sat down in the sand and started sifting through it with the shovel that was left there. She shoveled as much as she could into the matching bucket and tried to flip it over, but the pile collapsed instantly. She couldn't understand why it wouldn't work. She had watched her dad do this a hundred times at the beach. They always made pretty castles together and later, when she couldn't fall asleep in the hotel room because it smelled different than her room at home, he would tell her stories about the princess who lived in the castles they made. The princess's name was always Brittany. 

"What are you doing?" Brittany heard a voice above her and looked up. Standing outside the sandbox was a girl Brittany recognized from her class, she was wearing a blue and white striped shirt and jeans. Her hair was long and dark and pretty, Brittany thought. She had been sitting next to that Noah kid that made fun of her. 

"Trying to make a sandcastle," Brittany replied, not making eye contact. 

"You have to make the sand wet so it sticks together," the girl explained, sitting down across from Brittany. She dumped the water bottle she had into the sand and started shoveling the sand into the bucket. Brittany watched her, mesmerized. The fact that almost everyone on the playground was staring at them was not lost on her. 

"I'm Brittany," she chokes out finally, watching the girl flip the bucket with ease and pull it off to reveal a perfectly smooth castle tower. 

"I know," the girl replies, reaching into her pocket. Brittany likes the way the girl sticks her tongue out and squints her eyes as she digs through her pocket, concentrating hard. She pulls out three gummy bears and holds her hand out to Brittany. Brittany takes the green one and the girl places the red one on

top of the sandcastle, eating the yellow one herself. 

"What's your name?" Brittany asked, grinning excitedly at the new addition to the castle. 

"Santana," the girl replies, reinforcing the sandcastle from the bottom. 

"Do you want to be my friend?" Brittany asked hopefully. Santana looked up at her and shrugged. 

"Sure," she answered nonchalantly. Brittany giggled and clapped excitedly. They spent the rest of recess playing in the sand, the rest of the class gawking at Brittany who towered over Santana. They talked about everything, about kittens and butterflies and glitter crayons and whose mom made the best chocolate chip cookies. Santana never once asked Brittany why she was so tall or why she looked like a grown up. Brittany couldn't wait to go home and tell her mom she made a friend.


	3. Chapter 3

Brittany sat on the steps in front of school, waiting for her mom to pick her up. The rest of her day had gone pretty well. Sure some of the kids kept staring at her and she heard them giggle a few times, but Santana had shared her cupcakes with her at lunch, and Ms. J even cleared out a cubby hole for Brittany to put all her stuff in and she got to spend the afternoon decorating it. She hung up drawings of cats and flowers and rainbows and her and Santana.

Brittany heard a familiar giggle behind her and turned around. Her eyes lit up at the sight of Santana hurrying down the steps excitedly toward her mother's car.  
>"Hi Santana!" Brittany waved happily at her.<p>

"Oh…hi Brittany. Where's your mommy?" she asked.

"She's not here yet. But she'll be here soon, do you want to come over and play?" Brittany asked hopefully, smoothing the fabric of her jeans out over her knees.

"I can't. I have to do stuff," she replied, kicking at loose stones on the ground.

"Oh," Brittany replied, lowering her head in disappointment.

"Don't be sad. My mommy signed me up for soccer cause she said I'm too hyper. Maybe tomorrow we can play," she answered.

"Okay!" Brittany exclaimed, standing up to hug her friend. Unaware of the effect their size difference would have, she almost knocks Santana over in the process.

"Ow…careful Brit,"

"Sorry, Santana. I didn't mean it,"

"It's okay. I gotta go, my mommy's waiting,"

"Okay…bye!" she hollered as her new friend scampered off.

It isn't long before Brittany sees her mom pull up to the curb and she bolts excitedly to the car, hurling herself in the front seat quickly.  
>"Hi mommy!" she exclaimed.<p>

"Hi Brit, baby…how was your first day?" she asked, reaching over to tuck a strand of hair behind her daughter's ear.

"It was so fun mommy. My teacher is really nice, her name is Ms. J and she says I'm smart. And I have a best friend. Her name is Santana and she helped me build a sand castle and shared her cupcakes with me at lunch time. Can she come over and play after school tomorrow, mommy? Please?" Brittany rambled. 

"If it's okay with her mommy, sure. Maybe I should meet her first, though. I'm glad you had a good first day, pumpkin. Do you have homework?" 

"Nope! But Ms. J has papers you and daddy have to sign, they're in my backpack. And there's a phone tree in there too she says if you need to call the other kids mommies and daddies," she explained.

"Okay, I'll look at it when we get home," she responded.

"And mommy, I got my own cubby hole to keep my stuff in! And I got to draw pictures to put in it so everyone knows it's mine," she rambled.

"That's great sweetie. Make sure you keep it nice and neat," she told her daughter. She couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief that her first day had gone so well.

Mrs. Pierce sat at the kitchen table, going through the paperwork Brittany brought home from school. She had just put lasagna, Brittany's favorite, in the oven, and Brittany was upstairs making additions to her club house so that when Santana saw it she would think it was the coolest clubhouse ever.

"Well she certainly had a good day," Mr. Pierce said, strolling into the kitchen from upstairs. His wife looked up and chuckled at the site of butterfly stickers all over his work shirt.

"We put some on the clubhouse," he explained, leaving them in their place and sitting across from her at the table.

"What's all this?" he continued, shuffling through the papers.

"Emergency contact forms… forms to donate money to the school…after school tutoring…class contact lists…"

"Donate money? She's been there one day," he groaned.

"I guess they give it to all the kids. We don't have to," she explained.

"Santana Lopez…is that the girl she's going on and on about?" he wondered, looking at the class list.

"Yeah. She wants her to come play tomorrow so I'm going to call her mother," she replied.

"I wasn't expecting the kids to take to her right away. I hope this Santana isn't playing tricks," he mumbled.

"She's seven, how much of a vendetta could she possibly have? Maybe she's different too," she guessed.

"I just don't want Brittany getting hurt," he replied.

"Either do I. But she really wants a friend," she explained.

"Daddy! Daddy, can we put Christmas lights on the clubhouse?" she shouts, running into the kitchen.

"Woah, slow down there kiddo. Didn't we talk about running in the house?" he said, catching her as her socked feet sent her sliding along the laminate floor into his chair.

"Daddy, can we? Please? It would look so cool!" she begged.

"Maybe tomorrow, squirt," he answers.

"But daddy, Santana's coming over tomorrow it has to be cool now," she whines.

"It is cool! It has windows and butterflies…trust me, she'll like it," he told her.

"Brittany, why don't you go wash up for supper sweetie? It'll be ready soon," her mother interjected, shoving a pile of papers over to her husband.

"These all need your autograph, Mr. Pierce," she told him, standing up to tend to dinner.

After dinner, Brittany and her father had retired to the living room to watch cartoons and munch on Oreos. Mrs. Pierce finished the dishes and sat at the kitchen table with the phone in one hand and her nightly glass of wine in the other. She glanced at the phone list and took a deep breath as she dialed the Lopez's number.

"Hello?" a little girl's voice came on the phone.

"Hi, sweetie, can I talk to your mommy?" she asked sweetly.

"Okay," the girl said and she waited.

"Hello?" she finally heard.

"Hi is this Mrs. Lopez?"

"It is…may I help you?" she replied.

"Hi, my name is Karen Pierce. My daughter Brittany goes to school with your daughter Santana. Well actually, she just started going there today…" she began.

"Oh, right. Santana mentioned Brittany today. I guess they hit it off pretty quick huh?" she chuckled. The tension in Mrs. Pierce's shoulders eased up immediately at the other woman's calm demeanor.

"It seems that way. Did she mention anything in particular about Brittany?" she wondered.

"Just that they played at recess and that Brittany is really nice. Why?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, no reason. Brittany really would love Santana to come over tomorrow after school to play. But I told her it was up to you. Given Brittany's condition…I know a lot of parents would be hesitant," she explained.

"What do you mean Brittany's condition?" she asked.

"Brittany has something called Werner Syndrome. Basically her body grows three times faster than her brain. So she looks a lot older than she is,"

"Santana didn't mention it. She just said that they had fun playing at recess. If the girls have fun and get along that's all that matters to me," she replied.

"I agree. And Brittany has not stopped talking about your Santana since I picked her up. She must be something pretty special," Mrs. Pierce said.

"So you'll pick them both up tomorrow?" she questioned.

"Yes, I'll pick them up, I'll feed her and I'll drive her home. You don't have to worry about anything," she replied.

"Sounds great. I'm going to tell Santana right now, she'll be so excited. Great talking to you, Mrs. Pierce,"

"You as well. Good night," she said and hung up. She couldn't help but smile. It blew her away that Santana hadn't mentioned what made Brittany so different to her mother. She was positive the other kids in class had gone home and told their parents about the "giant girl" or the "weirdo" that had started in their class. It was refreshing to think that someone besides her and her husband could turn a blind eye to it and see Brittany for the beautiful little angel she was. She could not wait to meet this girl now.

"Brittany, go on up and get ready for your bath! Bed early tonight, you have a big day tomorrow!" she hollered to her in the living room. She couldn't help but think to herself now that maybe everything was going to be okay after all.


	4. Chapter 4

Brittany sat at her desk first thing in the morning, eagerly awaiting the start of class. She knew that the sooner school was over, the sooner she would be at home showing Santana her super awesome club house.

"Good morning!" the teacher greeted as she stepped in from hallway duty, noticing most of her students hadn't shuffled in yet. She smiled at Brittany who sat up, grinning from ear to ear and ready to start.

"Brittany, you scampered out so fast yesterday I didn't get to talk to you. Did you have a good first day?" she asked, leaning down next to Brittany's desk.

"Yeah Miss J, it was fun. My mommy and daddy signed all these papers for you," she said, handing them over to her.

"Good job, Brittany. I saw how well you decorated your cubby hole. You like to draw?" she asked.

"Yeah, lots! I always draw pictures at home, my mommy bought me cool crayons with glitter in them and ones that smell like fruit!" she explained happily.

"Those sound cool! You can bring them in to keep in your cubby if you want to. We're starting a pretty neat project today, I think you'll like it," she announced, patting Brittany on the shoulder and heading up to the chalk board.

Brittany hummed happily to herself, doodling in her notebook while she waited for class to start. She was just about to finish the tail on the particularly perfect unicorn she had been drawing when an unidentified pair of hands slid all her books off her desk onto the floor. Brittany frowned and looked up silently, coming eye to eye with a boy Miss J called David yesterday. She remembered him because he kept making noises and laughing with Noah yesterday while Miss J was talking.

"Sorry I ruined your picture, freak," he laughed in her face before walking back to his desk in the back of the room. Brittany looked to the front of the room where the teacher stood, facing the blackboard, not having heard the exchange at all. She fought the urge to cry as her bottom lip quivered and she bent down to pick up her books.

"Hey San, check out the freak," she heard him mutter from off to the side as she continued collecting her papers. She looked up and saw Santana had just walked in, shuffling to her seat. Santana looked down at Brittany gathering her things, close to tears.

"Don't call her that, Dave. She's nice," Santana said, shooting him a death glare.

"She's stupid," he continued, loud enough this time that the teacher turned around just in time to see Santana setting up to take a swing at him.

"Santana! Is there a problem?" she called to the back of the room, making her way back swiping the chalk dust off her hands as she went.

"He's saying mean stuff about Brit," she whimpered. Brittany was now sitting back in her seat, staring down at her notebooks silently.

"David, not another word or you'll spend recess working on your spelling worksheet," she warned him.

"But Miss J!" he groaned.

"That's enough. Both of you sit down," she said, wandering over to Brittany, who still refused to look up.

"Are you okay, Brittany?" she asked gently. Brittany nodded subtly. Knowing that nothing she could say about the situation would make Brittany feel better, she tapped on Brittany's now crumpled unicorn drawing.

"Your unicorn is very pretty. Did you know they're my favorite?" she asked sweetly, finally getting Brittany to look up.

"Mine too," Brittany sniffled.

"Do you think maybe I could have this to keep on my desk? I'll trade you something really cool…" she offered. Brittany smiled weakly and tore the picture out of her notebook.

"You don't have to trade, Miss J. You can have it," she replied sweetly, handing her the picture. The teacher winked at her and patted her hand gently before heading to the front of the room.

"Okay guys, we're going to work on our spelling today but before we start, I want to talk about our next project. We're all going to write essays!" she announced, eliciting most of the students to groan in disappointment.

"I know, I know. But give it a chance you guys. I want you to write about who your hero is. It can be anyone in the whole world you want. Your mom or dad, your sibling or grandparent, anybody. And you have to tell me two pages about why they're your hero. Draw a picture to go with it. They're due next Friday so you have more than a week to work on it. Any questions?" she asked.

"Miss J what if we don't have a hero?" Noah whined from the back of the room.

"If that's the case, I still want two whole pages about why," she warned him. Brittany grinned at his agitated reaction. She was purely amused by the other kids grumbles and puzzled looks, because Brittany already knew who she was going to write her project about.

"Okay! Who can tell me how to spell 'believe'?" she asked, and Brittany smiled trying to spell the word out on her paper. She already couldn't wait to start on her project.

"Hi Brittany," Santana said as she approached her, sitting alone at the lunch table.

"Hi Santana!" she waved excitedly, grinning when Santana sat down across from her.

"What do you have for lunch today? My mommy made me tuna and I don't like it," Santana admitted, scowling at the sandwich she pulled from her tie dye lunch bag.

"You want to trade? My mommy packed me peanut butter and jelly, but I like tuna too," she offered sweetly.

"Yeah let's trade," Santana agreed, getting wide eyed at the idea of something sweet for lunch.

"Thanks for being brave for me before," Brittany commented, dumping the further contents of her lunch out on the table next to her newly acquired tuna sandwich.

"Welcome," came Santana's muffled reply as she dug into her PBJ.

"That Dave kid isn't very nice. Yesterday he kept burping when Miss J was teaching us," Brittany pointed out.

"He's a dork face," Santana admitted, causing Brittany to giggle.

"What about Noah? He's kind of mean too," Brittany wondered, poking the straw through her juice box.

"He's nice sometimes. He lives by my house and they have a clubhouse but they won't let me in cause I'm a girl and they think I have cooties," she explained.

"What's cooties?" Brittany asked.

"They say its girl germs but I think cooties are boy germs!" Santana replied.

"Yeah! Boy germs," Brittany replied enthusiastically. Santana laughed and twirled one of her Oreos in half, giving the creamier side to Brittany.

"Santana I have a clubhouse and you can play in it cause I know you don't got cooties," Brittany offered, licking the frosting from her cookie.

"Cool! Is it up in a tree or on the ground?" she asked excitedly.

"It's on the ground in my room," she explained. Santana scratched her head in thought.

"It isn't outside?" she wondered.

"Nope. I want an outside one but my daddy's too busy to build one so he made one in my room instead. But it's still really cool!" she exclaimed.

"Sounds fun Brit, I can't wait," Santana smiled. Brittany was growing more excited for their play date by the second.

Santana and Brittany were sitting on the steps in front of school waiting for Brittany's mom to pick them up.

"So who are you writing your project about?" Brittany asked.

"I don't know yet. Maybe my Abuela. She's super cool and she makes good food," Santana explained.

"What's a Abuela?" Brittany tried her best to pronounce the word.

"It means grandma. Mommy makes me say it in Spanish cause she's from Puerto Rico," she told her. Brittany nodded, eyes wide. She had never heard of such a place. But if Santana's family came from there, it was probably really cool.

"Hey Santana, we're gonna ride our bikes to the lake and look for salamanders you wanna come?" Noah approached her, Dave by his side.

"No I'm going to Brittany's house," she told them. Brittany immediately hugged her knees to her chest at the sight of Dave, terrified.

"Come on Santana, don't be a lame-o," Dave commented.

"You're the lame-o," Santana snapped back, crossing her arms.

"Whatever, Dave let's go," Noah said, turning away from the girls.

"Have fun with the freak!" Dave called as he walked away after Noah. Santana looked down at her friend who was still curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth, hands covering her ears.

"Brittany don't listen to him, he's stupid," Santana soothed her. Brittany was trying her best not to cry in front of Santana. Santana pried one of Brittany's hands off her face and linked their pinkies together.

"You aren't a freak. You're cool," she continued. Brittany sniffled and looked at their joint pinkies, Santana's small tan one wrapped around Brittany's longer one.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah. Don't be sad, they're just stupid boys. And they're gonna go play with stupid bugs and we get to go play in your clubhouse,"

"I don't like bugs," Brittany mumbled.

"Exactly, cause they're gross just like boys!" Santana explained, making Brittany giggle.

"Look Santana! My mommy's here! Come on!" she stood up, keeping their pinkies linked and ran toward her mother's van. She opened the sliding door and climbed in with Santana closely behind.

"Mommy this is Santana!" she exclaimed.

"Hi Santana. It's very nice to meet you,"

"You too, Brittany's mom," she replied. Mrs. Pierce chuckled at this.

"You can call me Karen," she explained with a smile.

"Mommy can I call you Karen?" Brittany giggled, mostly showing off in front of her friend.

"You better not. It's still mommy to you, goofball," she laughed back.

"Seatbelts girls," she continued and waited for the two click sounds to ring out before heading home. She listened to the girls chatter with a smile plastered on her face, incredibly touched to see her daughter so happy.

_**Next up: the play date **_

_**Thank you to everyone whose subscribed and commented this…I'm going to try to update it more regularly. I kind of fell out of sync with it for a bit but now I'm back on track and know exactly where I want to take it. **_

_**Reviews are love.**_


	5. Chapter 5

Once getting conformation that the girls would rather have chicken nuggets and tator tots for dinner than hamburgers, Mrs. Pierce watched as they scampered up the staircase frantically to Brittany's room.

"Careful!" she hollered, noticing Brittany's long legs buckling beneath her a few times on the way. Still, she couldn't help but smile. Never in eight years had she seen Brittany this happy

"Isn't it cool Sanny?" Brittany asked as they crept toward the clubhouse. Santana wasn't dumb, it wasn't so much a house as a few refrigerator boxes Brit's dad cut apart and spliced back together in a way that would make it large enough for Brittany to play in. But the butterfly stickers were cool and there was even a bean bag chair inside.

"It's cool, Brit," she agrees, crawling in behind Brittany.

"Is that candy all yours?" Santana asks pointing to a huge bag of lollipops and assorted chocolates next to the bean bag chair.

"Yeah my daddy got it for me. Don't tell my mommy though, she doesn't like me having candy a lot," she explained.

"My mommy doesn't let me have candy ever. Only on Halloween. She says I bounce on the walls. But I don't even know how to do that," Santana replied.

"So you never get to eat candy?" Brittany asked, shocked and honestly heartbroken for her friend. Candy was one of Brittany's favorite things ever, next to unicorns and rainbows and glitter crayons and of course, Santana.

"Sometimes Quinn shares her gum at school," she explained. Brittany tried to remember who Quinn was while she shoved the bag over to Santana. She dug in deep and pulled out a few peanut butter cups, grinning excitedly.

"Santana, do you believe in unicorns?" Brittany asked. Santana shrugged, her mouth full of chocolate.

"I dunno. My brother says they're just horses with swords on their heads," she mumbles.

"Oh. I think they're real. And they're magic, too. Sometimes I dream about them and they ask me what my wishes are. I tell them I wish I was normal. It probably takes a long time though, they're busy," she explained.

"I think you're normal, Brit," Santana replied, continuing to stuff her face with candy.

"Now come on, let's play," she continued, finishing up her candy and looking around the clubhouse for something to do.

"Okay what should we play?" Brittany wondered.

"Let's make a club! You have to have a club if you have a clubhouse,"

"Okay how do we have a club?" she asked.

"Well we have to have a leader. And everybody has to do whatever the leader says," Santana explained. Her knowledge of secret clubs was composed of hearing Noah and Dave and Finn talk about their club house, and the mean things her older brother would say to her when would tell her she was too lame to be in his club.

"Okay," Brittany agreed, smiling.

"Do you want to be the leader, Brit?"

"No you can, Santana," she replied.

"Okay. So we have to make rules and stuff. Like no boys allowed!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah! No boys allowed!" Brittany repeated enthusiastically.

"And if people want to be in the club they have to bring us candy. Every day!" she continued. Brittany nodded happily at this, envisioning herself and Santana rolling around in a gigantic pile of candy.

"And we gotta have a flag and a m…mas…mascot. Yeah, a mascot," Santana grinned when she remembered the word.

"What's that?" Brittany wondered.

"Like a animal. When my daddy watches football on tv, they have a tiger that stands there. I think he's fake cause he stands on two legs,"

"I have lots of mascots on my bed!" Brittany exclaimed, crawling out of the clubhouse and over to her pile of stuffed animals.

"Santana can this be our mascot?" she begged, hugging a stuffed unicorn tight to her chest.

"His name is Hugsy. My daddy got him for me when my tummy hurt one time. He's my favorite," she explained.

"Mmkay," Santana shrugged. Santana had secretly been eyeing the stuffed monkey on Brittany's bed. Santana loved monkeys, ever since she was super little and continuously got caught trying to climb to the tippy top of her Abuela's couch. 'Ay, monkey girl, that's what you are!' she would say and tickle her until her sides ached from laughter.

"How do we make a flag?" Santana wondered, looking around Brittany's room.

"You can draw one! I have lots of paper and crayons and even paint downstairs!" Brittany told her.

The girls continued scheming ideas for their new club for what seemed like hours until Mrs. Pierce called them for dinner. She smiled as Santana loaded a huge puddle of ketchup on her plate, only to pass the bottle to Brittany who like always put a little blob on each individual piece of food.

"So Santana, how do you like third grade?" Mrs. Pierce asked watching the two girls eat.

"It's good," she replied.

"Mommy we got a project today, we have to write about who our hero is," Brittany told her excitedly.

"Well that sounds fun, sweetie. Do you know who you're going to write it about?" she asked.

"Yeah but it's a surprise," she nodded.

"What about you Santana?" she wondered. She shrugged through her mouth full of food and Mrs. Pierce smiled at her face covered in ketchup.

"Mommy how come we're eating without daddy? That never happens," Brittany pointed out.

"Well we have to have Santana home at six thirty and daddy's working late. But he said you better save him some nuggets," she explained.

"So can we finish eating in the clubhouse?" Brittany pleaded.

"No way…sorry, the crumb monster and the ketchup bandit are staying right here at the table. I just got done cleaning that room, missy," she said, making Santana giggle.

"Can Santana sleep over then? We have a lot to do!" Brittany shouted adorably. Santana knew how this would end. She had been on this end of begging for sleepovers many times when she would go to Quinn Fabray's house. They would spend hours planning how to look as adorable as possible and then head into the kitchen, drop to their knees and give Mrs. Fabray the puppy dog eyes. And every single time the response was the same.

"Not tonight girls," Santana knew it by heart.

"Maybe another night okay? You girls have school tomorrow," she said.

The girls finished eating and she gathered their plates, encouraging them to go wash up. They headed to the bathroom but not before Brittany crept toward the cookie jar on the counter. She bit her tongue, concentrating very hard to be quiet.

"Brittany Pierce," her mother said, not even having to turn around to know what was going on. Brittany froze, hand still in the jar.

"One each," she continued. Brittany grabbed two cookies, handing one to Santana and the two girls scampered back up to her room. Mrs. Pierce went to clean the table when she noticed a drawing on the floor. This wasn't uncommon; Brittany was always creating art projects and leaving them all over the house. She picked it up and glanced at it, immediately shocked at what she saw.  
>In the picture were two girls, a blonde in a red dress and a brunette in a blue dress. They were stick figures of course, as advanced as an eight year old could do. There was a B above the blonde and an S above the brunette. In the corner was the slightly sloppy green signature of the artist. Santana drew this. What blew Mrs. Pierce away the most was the girls in the picture were exactly the same size.<p>

All too soon, it seemed to Brittany, it was time to take Santana home. She pouted the whole car ride there while Santana bounced and hummed and kicked her dangling feet, hyper as all get out thanks to the candy and the cookie. Santana's mother was sitting on the porch smoking a cigarette when they pulled up, which she immediately put out and made her way down to greet her daughter.

"Hi mommy,"

"Hi baby. Did you have fun?" she asked, hugging her child.

"Yeah! Can I go again?" she asked.

"As long as it's okay with Mrs. Pierce," she smiled

"Santana, you can come over anytime. It was very nice having you. Mrs. Lopez, I was wondering if I could talk to you…alone for a moment,"

"Sure. Santana, why don't you go show Brittany your room?" she suggested.

"Kay! Come on Brits!" she took her hand, pulling her out of the car and the girls scampered into the house.

"So that's Brittany," Mrs. Lopez observed.

"That's Brittany. I know you must think it's a little strange…"

"Like I said, they get along. That's all that matters," she replied.

"Right. And Santana is such a sweetheart. The girls just don't seem to want to leave each other's sides. I have to say I'm so shocked. Santana doesn't look at Brittany weird or ever mention the things that make her different. I even found this," she explained, pulling the drawing out of her pocket and handing it over.

"She drew a picture of them. It's cute," she smiled.

"Given Brittany's condition I've spent a lot of time around different kinds of therapists. Therapists for Brittany, and different therapists for my husband and I…and even I can admit that if somebody asked me to draw a picture of my daughter, I'd draw her tall like me. But Santana seems to look past it completely. At first I thought she was just a very nice kid, but now I'm wondering if she sees it at all, if Santana even takes what makes us all different into consideration. Maybe she just looks into Brittany's eyes and sees what she is on the inside. And Brittany really needs that in her life. Because everywhere we go people treat her different. And Santana seems to make her feel like the little girl she never got to be," she said. The more she explained the picture, the more Mrs. Lopez was shocked. Of course she loved and was proud of her daughter in every way shape and form. But this was a new kind of realization. Maybe her daughter did really just see people for who they were, and not just what they looked like. 

"Thank you Mrs. Pierce. That's very sweet of you. Listen, Santana has a soccer game Saturday. I'm sure she would love if Brittany came to watch. I'll drive her, feed her, bring her home. Up to you, just know she's more than welcome," Mrs. Lopez offered.

"I'll make sure I tell her but I'm sure she will be very excited," she replied.

"Mommy, Santana has a dog! Can we get a dog? Please?" Brittany ran outside, straight into her mother's arms putting on her best begging face.

"One day. MAYBE," she replied.

"Come on honey, we have to get home. Daddy will be home soon, say bye to Santana," she continued. Brittany pouted and walked over to her friend.

"Bye San," she whimpered, giving her friend a tiny wave.

"Bye Brits. See if you can sneak some candy to school tomorrow," she whispered.

"Okay I will. Bye. Bye Santana's mommy," she waved as she passed her.

"Very nice meeting you Brittany. We'll see you soon," she replied, starting to usher Santana into the house, muttering something about bath time.

"Did you have fun with Santana sweetie?" Brittany's mom asked as they made their way home. Brittany grinned from ear to ear.

"Yeah. We're gonna be bestest friends forever. Santana said so,"


	6. Chapter 6

The girls spent every moment they could together for the rest of the week. They even had a sleepover after Santana's soccer game. Brittany was thrilled to be on her first sleepover ever, staying up until 10:30 made her feel like one of the cool kids. Plus, Santana's mom made some pretty yummy bean soup; it was so good Brittany ate three bowls.

They played at recess every day. Brittany even started to like Santana's other friend, Quinn Fabray. They told her she could be in their club, but only if she brought them candy. She agreed. That was how they learned that Santana only liked green and yellow sour patch kids, and Brittany liked red and orange.

Word spread about the club, and soon all the girls wanted in. Santana and Brittany had more candy then they knew what to do with.

"We're geniuses, Brit," Santana said, sucking a gummy worm into her mouth as they sat at the lunch table. Brittany's ham and cheese lay forgotten next to Santana's turkey sandwich, tossed aside when Brittany revealed she had snuck some of their candy stash out of her cubby hole. Brittany nodded in agreement. She wasn't quite sure what a genius was, but if Santana said it then it must be something cool.

The kids shuffled back into their seats after lunch, still giggling and carrying on conversations with each other until their teacher made her way to the front.

"Okay guys, I hope you all remembered your essays are due today! Who wants to go first? She asked. Brittany shot her hand up in the air excitedly. She had been so excited all day to read hers.

"Okay, Noah you can go first, then Tina, then Brittany," she decided. Brittany sunk down in her chair and pouted a little. She really wanted to go first. But at least she'd probably get to go before recess.

Brittany tried her best not to yawn as she listened to Noah read his essay about Batman. Sometimes Santana's brother watched Batman and they had to watch it until it was their turn and they could turn on something cool like Spongebob.

When Noah was done, Tina made her way to the front. Brittany got excited listening to her essay. She talked about her older sister who trained dolphins and whales at Sea World. Brittany would love to swim with dolphins and whales. They're so cute!

"Very good job, Tina. That was very interesting," the teacher applauded her.

"Okay Brittany, you're up!" she continued, leaning back on her desk as Brittany scampered to the front of the room. She got nervous as she glanced out at her classmates and cleared her throat before looking down at her paper.

"My hero is my best friend. Her name is Santana. She's really nice. She's in my class and sometimes she plays with me at recess. On my first day at school she taught me how to make a cool sandcastle. And she shared her cupcakes with me. I like Santana cause she's funny. She says lots of things that make me laugh. And sometimes she makes funny faces and I laugh a lot.

I like going to Santana's house cause she has lots of toys and movies. Sometimes her mommy makes us snacks and we watch them. Santana likes Lion King and I like Beauty and the Beast. I feel bad for the beast cause everyone makes fun of him. But Santana thinks he's cute and she likes his castle. I like when Santana comes to my house cause we play in my clubhouse. We have a club and Santana is the leader. Sometimes we play games and sometimes we eat lots of candy.

I like to watch Santana play soccer. Sometimes I get to go to her soccer games and she's really fast. And when she scores she does a funny dance that makes me laugh. And she has to wear a green shirt at soccer and I think she looks cool in green. When Santana has soccer games I get to sit with her mommy and she buys me a hot dog and then we get to go out for ice cream after.

I like Santana because she always is nice to me. She helps when I don't know words and she doesn't make fun of me. Santana makes other people be nice to me to. Sometimes it doesn't work. But she tries a lot. Santana says we will be best friends forever, even when we're really old and 20 like our parents.

And that's why Santana is my hero," Brittany finished. She looked up at Santana immediately who was blushing a little but smiling.

"Santana and Brittany sitting in a tree!" Dave started heckling from the back of the room.

"That's enough. Brittany that was very good. I liked all the reasons you gave. Good job. Dave, since you have so much to say how about you come up here and read your essay next?" she patted Brittany on the shoulder. Brittany smiled and started walking back to her desk. She made sure not to make eye contact with Dave as she passed him, sure he would say something mean. Instead, he kicked his leg in front of her feet as she walked, causing her to trip and land flat on her stomach with a thud and her papers to scatter everywhere. A few muffled giggles came from some of the boys in the back. Brittany tried her hardest not to cry.

"David! Go to the principal's office. Now," she directed him. He scoffed and walked out of the room, tossing his essay on the floor in the process.

"Brittany are you okay?" the teacher asked kneeling next to her. Santana got out of her seat and squatted next to Brittany on the floor.

"Ms. J I can take Brittany to the nurse," she offered.

"I'm okay Sanny. I don't get why he's so mean to me," she said, sitting herself up.

"Don't you worry about him, sweetie. I'm going to take care of it,"

"Thanks Ms. J," Brittany replied. Santana helped her gather her papers and walked her to her desk.

"Hey Brits. Your essay was cool," Santana grinned as Brittany sat down. Brittany grinned from ear to ear. All she wanted was Santana to like it.

"Santana how about you go next?" the teacher suggested. Brittany listened intently to every word her best friend spoke.

"So that's why I picked my Abuela. Cause she makes good food and sometimes when I sleep over her house she falls asleep on the couch and I get to watch South Park," Santana finished reading her essay, eliciting a few laughs with her last line. It was right then that the principal peeked her head in.

"Okay, Santana good job. Very comical, I can always count on you for a humorous read," Ms. J commented.

"Everybody say hi to Ms. Vaughn," she continued as the principal entered.

"Hi Ms. Vaughn," they said in unison.

"Hi guys. Brittany can I talk to you for just a second?" she asked sweetly. Brittany gulped audibly and got up from her desk.

"Just a second, I promise. You aren't in trouble," she assured her. Brittany nervously followed her out into the hallway.

"Brittany, what has Dave Karofsky been doing to you? I want you to tell me everything," she told her.

"Um. He's mean. He calls me stupid and a freak. And today he made fun of my essay and tripped me and I hurt my tummy," she admitted.

"I wish you would've told me, honey. I promised you and your mom I wouldn't let anyone be mean to you. You have to tell me when someone's mean," she explained.

"It's okay. Santana takes care of me," she says proudly.

"Well just so you know, I switched David to Mr. Cooper's class down the hall. Has everything else been good? You're making friends? You like your class?" she wondered.

"Yeah Ms. J is real cool. And Santana is my best friend forever," Brittany explained.

"Well that's good. I want you to come talk to me anytime you feel sad okay? Don't forget, you get a free lollipop anytime you come see me," she winked. Brittany nodded, rather unimpressed. She decided it probably wasn't a good idea to tell her about the several pounds of sugary treats she and Santana had stowed away in her cubby hole.

"Kay," she replied and headed back into the classroom. The teacher gave her a supportive smile and wink as she made her way to her seat. Brittany grinned to herself as she settled back in. She had Santana, and Ms. J liked her essay and now the meanest boy in the world wasn't here to pick on her anymore. As the dull ache in her tummy finally faded away, Brittany decided, she had the best life ever these days.

_**Just want to thank you guys again for the kind words. I'm so grateful that people are latching onto this story. Hang in there, keep reading, keep reviewing **_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Thank you again for reviews and subscriptions (please keep reviewing!) I jumped ahead a few years in time here, realized if I wrote day by day this story could be 400 chapters long pretty soon. Anyway, things start to get a little tough here. If you can't handle that parts of this story are going to be sad, then I'd stop here. But I hope you'll continue, because after all, fiction is the reason we're all here right?**_

_**P.S- Am I the only one that's finding it totally maddening that Brittany hasn't spoken in like 5 episodes now? And Santana's had like…4 lines total in the same time frame? **_

Twelve years old is a tough age to find out you're a ticking time bomb. But that's how old Brittany was when she figured it out.

Sure, she knew she was different. That much she had grasped by the time she could form full sentences. Somehow, though, in the few years she'd had Santana in her life, being different was in the back of her mind most of the time. The two were inseparable by this point in their adolescence. They were best friends and everybody knew it. Santana liked having Brittany around to help her through things like puberty. Brittany certainly knew all about it, considering she had dealt with it herself at age five.

Most of Brittany's classmates had gotten used to her different appearance by now, with the exception of Dave Karofsky who still gave her crap every day. He always waited for a rare moment when Santana wasn't around, and Brittany decided not to tell Santana about those moments.

But by seventh grade, the rest of the boys at school who used to laugh at her started treating her a lot different. Lots of boys and girls at school were 'going steady'. Brittany wasn't stupid, she knew why the boys were suddenly so interested in her. The older she got, the more she looked like her mother, and in her twelve years of life she had seen the effect her mother had on men. But Brittany had no interest in having a boyfriend. Santana didn't seem to either. In fact, she'd nearly blown a gasket when Mike Chang asked Brittany to go to the Christmas dance with him.

"Me and Brits aren't going to that stupid dance. We're renting movies and getting pizza while all you dorks slow dance and catch acne from each other," she had said.

Santana made Brittany feel like a normal kid. Brittany knew she looked different on the outside, but Santana never once mentioned it and sometimes it made Brittany forget about her condition all together.

Brittany walked into the house after a particularly long Friday at school. Her parents had decided that twelve was an appropriate age for Brittany to start walking herself to and from school, since Santana's house was halfway they walked together. Brittany was excited, Friday night was their ceremonial sleepover night. Tonight it was at Brittany's, so Santana had stopped at home to get her things while Brittany went to make sure her mom bought the right junk food they would be needing for the night.

She tossed her bag down in the foyer and headed to the kitchen. Cheese curls and popcorn on the counter, check.

"Mom?" she called as she continued searching the kitchen for snacks. A six pack of root beer in the fridge, awesome. Now all they needed was the pizza she had promised them, but Brittany knew that'd be coming later. Brittany made her way into the living room, surprised when she didn't see her mom there either.

"Mom?" she called out a little louder. Still no answer . She shrugged and made her way upstairs to her room to bring down pillows and blankets to the designated movie marathon area in the living room. As she neared her door, she noticed her parents' bedroom door cracked slightly. She heard crying.

Brittany crept closer, being sure to be extra quiet so she could hear what was going on.

"It's like time just keeps slipping away," she cried. Brittany peaked in the door. Her mother was sitting on the floor against the far side of the bed, looking out the window into the backyard. Tissues were balled up all around her. She gripped the phone tightly to her ear.

"Brian and I have been seeing Dr. Turner more and more. He doesn't talk much but I know it bothers him too," she continued. What bothers dad, she wondered. Was it something she did wrong?

"He just deals with it differently. He goofs around with her a lot more. Tries to treat her like his buddy, like it'll make this easier in the long run. But every time I look in that sweet child's eyes, the end gets a little closer for me and I can't handle it," she sobbed.

"I know it won't be tomorrow. But imagine if days after your child was born the doctor told you you'd be burying them before too long? My daughter's whole life was plotted out for her before she even spoke a word. No amount of therapy is ever going to get me to come to terms with this," she continued. Brittany slid down to the floor, her back against the wall. Was her mom saying what she thought she was saying?

"30 if she's lucky," she heard.

"She's just been doing so well, she loves school, she had friends…she's happy. This damn disease has always scared me…but lately…I feel like it's taking her from me one day at a time. I mean how am I supposed to cope? Every day she looks a little older. Every day I have to deal with the fact that she probably won't get married or have children of her own…by the time I get to watch her grow up into an adult, it'll be time to say goodbye. I can't handle knowing my daughter's going to die…every day is a constant struggle," oh God. Brittany's heartbeat quickened.

"I'm gonna die?" she thought to herself. No, how can that be? Life was just starting to get awesome. She had a best friend, she was good at school…why would her mom keep this from her? Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the doorbell. She saw her mom noticed it too and scampered off before her mother would see her spying. She flew down the stairs and flung the door open to see Santana perched on the doorstep, her overnight bag in hand.

"Hi San," she stepped aside to let her friend in.

"Brits let's get our grub on. I'm starving," she announced, leading herself to the kitchen. Brittany so desperately wanted to tell Santana what she had just heard her mother say, for Santana to hug her and tell her it wasn't true, that they'd be 100 years old and still be best friends. But she figured now wasn't the time to bring it up and followed Santana into the kitchen.

Brittany's mom was soon behind them, having tried to excuse her puffy eyes on the fact that she just took a nap.

"Don't get too full on junk, girls, I'll order the pizza in a little while," she warned.

"I never get full, ma," Santana said through a mouthful of cheese curls. She had become such a fixture in the Pierce household that nobody blinked an eye at this. Brittany called Mrs. Lopez ma as well.

"Yes, Santana I know. That's why I keep you around, to get rid of the leftovers that Brittany and her dad won't eat," she giggled, ruffling Santana's hair. She noticed that Brittany sat quietly, spinning one cheese curl between her fingers on the table, but never picking it up to eat it.

"What's wrong with you, boo?" she asked, wrapping her arms around her daughter's shoulders. Brittany shrugged.

"Brits is mad cause next week we have to cut up a frog in science class," Santana spoke for her, recalling from her memory the only thing she could think of from their day that could have Brittany bummed out.

"Oh, well don't worry too much about it sweetheart. I mean the frog will already be dead," she explained. There was that word again. Dead. Brittany sighed.

"Yeah besides Brit, I'll chop him up, you just have to write what it looks like," Santana announced. She wasn't afraid of a little blood and guts. She watched the surgery channel with her dad all the time. She swore, between that and her father's play by play, she could probably insert a chest tube with her eyes closed.

"I don't care about the frog. Even though it's mean and they shouldn't kill frogs just so we can look at their insides," Brittany admitted.

"Well then cheer up Brits! This is my only day I don't have soccer and I want to chillax," she announced, tossing up a cheese curl and catching it in her mouth. Brittany smiled weakly, finally taking a bite out of her snack.

"Go on in the living room girls, mom's got some cleaning to do out here," her mother requested and they scampered off, snacks and movies in hand.

They were halfway though Jackass 2, which Santana had to sneak out of her brother's room and they had to wait until Brittany's parents were asleep to pop in. Santana giggled at almost every scene. She had seen this a hundred times with her brother, but it never got old. Brittany found a few parts amusing, but had hardly cracked a smile.

"Brits? What's wrong?" Santana whispered, the light of the screen illuminating their faces.

"I'm gonna die San," she replied. Santana froze, forgetting suddenly about the few pieces of popcorn she was about to toss in her mouth.

"Huh?" she choked out.

"I'm gonna die. Before I can get married or anything," she admitted.

"Brit you don't know that. I mean we all die, but we aren't allowed to know when," she answers back.

"My mom said. She said so, Santana. She was crying today when I got home and telling someone that I was gonna die before I turn 30 or something. She said it's cause of my disease," Brittany explained.

"What disease?" Santana asked. She knew Brittany was different…but she never thought of it as a disease.

"The one that makes me look weird. Werner something my mom calls it. I knew it wasn't good cause they make me go to a doctor all the time. But I didn't know it was going to make me die," she admitted. Santana felt a lump in her throat.

"But the doctor can fix it. That's what doctors do Brit, I know cause my dad is one," she reasoned. Brittany shook her head.

"I don't think so, San. My mom wouldn't cry if he could fix it," she said.

"He's not trying hard enough then!" Santana exclaimed.

"Shh, San! My parents will wake up!" Brittany tried to quiet her. Santana tossed the blanket off herself and scampered over to where her shoes lay.

"San what are you doing?" she asked.

"If your doctor won't fix you, my dad will! I'm gonna go ask him what to do!" she exclaimed, tying her shoes.

"San, it's like midnight you can't leave," Brittany told her.

"I'll be back Brits!" she replied, heading out the front door. She ran as fast as her legs would let her go. Brittany wasn't going to die, not on her watch. She ran until her lungs burned. She ran and ran as hard as she could, even when tears started to mix with the sweat on her face. Finally she made it to the front door. She tried the knob. Locked, of course. She reached down under the mat, fetching the spare key and unlocked the door, hurling herself inside. She barely checked to make sure the door closed behind her before she darted up the steps. She entered her parents room and made her way to her father's side of the bed cautiously.

"Dad. Dad, wake up," she nudged him.

"Dad, come on," she tried again. He opened one eye to identify the intruder.

"Santana…why aren't you at Brittany's?" he asked groggily.

"Dad you have to help, Brittany's gonna die," she announced, tugging on his hand to try to get him out of bed.

"What? What happened?" he started to panic. He sat up and turned on the light on his end table, taking in her sweaty, disheveled appearance. She tried to catch her breath before she explained further.

"Santana, what's going on? Is Brittany hurt?" he tried to pry it out of her.

"Brittany said she heard her mom saying she was gonna die cause of her disease. And her stupid doctor won't do anything. Dad you have to fix her, I know you can. Please," she begged. The man sighed and ran his fingers through his hair before reaching forward and taking both his daughter's hands. He knew this day was coming.

"Santana, honey…Brittany sees a specialist. A doctor that specializes in her kind of condition. I don't know anything about her medical history and even if I did, her condition is so very rare. There is nothing anybody can do," he said as gently as possible.

"Dad just come and like do an exam on her, maybe you can figure out a way. Please, dad. Don't let my best friend die. Please," she started to cry again.

"Santana…" he choked out, trying to find a comforting way to explain this lesson she was too young to be learning. Her knees buckled and she collapsed into her father's arms, sobbing harder than she could ever remember doing before.

"Don't let her die, daddy. Please. Don't let her die," she cried as he rocked her back and forth. For the first time since they had met, Santana found something about Brittany that scared her to death.


	8. Chapter 8

It had been over a week since the incident at the sleepover. Santana had spent those days grounded for running from Brittany's house in the middle of the night, but neither girl dared admit to Mrs. Pierce or Mrs. Lopez what exactly had gotten into Santana. Santana figured her mother already knew, her dad probably told her what they talked about. But she didn't dare bring it up again.

Brittany tried her best not to think about it, slowly coming to grips with her fate because she knew her mother wouldn't say such horrible things if they weren't true. Santana, however, wasn't going to give up that easy.

It was Sunday, and it was the perfect day for Santana to get to the bottom of this. She knew that every Sunday, without fail, Brittany and her dad would go out for breakfast and then either to the movies or out on her dad's fishing boat, depending on the weather. It was their time to bond, since Mr. Pierce often worked long hours and rarely made it home before Brittany's bedtime, so Mrs. Pierce would stay home on Sundays cleaning and cooking some extravagant Sunday dinner. Santana's stomach grumbled as she thought of Sunday dinner at the Pierces'.

So she waited , crouched behind a bush across the street from Brittany's house, waiting for Brittany and Mr. Pierce to leave so she could execute her plan.

Sure, she could've just walked up to the door and knocked, but honestly, Santana is kind of enjoying the sneakiness of it all. She feels like some kind of agent on a top secret mission, and if she makes even the smallest slip up, her identity will be compromised. It reminds her of when her and Brittany played detective when they were younger.

Santana catches a glimpse of something bright and fluttering out of the corner of her eye. As she turns to capture it in her line of vision, she notices a multicolored butterfly hovering about an inch from her face. She brings her hands up slowly, sticking her tongue out in concentration. She doesn't want to hurt it, just to trap it to show to Brittany later. The butterfly bolts away from Santana's palms, and losing focus on her mission, she chases after it. It leads her in zig zag patterns all over the yard behind the bush, and even on her toned soccer legs she can't seem to catch it. The pitter patter of sneakered feet getting closer is lost on Santana as the butterfly soars over the bush toward the other side of the street. In a last chance effort, Santana dives, arms stretched out, over the bush, landing flush on her stomach with a thud on the sidewalk.

She winces in pain for a moment before checking her hands and realizing she came up with nothing.

"Santana?" she hears her name and looks up. It's Brittany's mom, clad in her jogging gear, pulling head phones out of her ears.

"I was trying to catch a butterfly for Brits," she admits, sitting up. She looks at her elbow which is scraped up and bleeding.

"Honey you hurt yourself. Come inside, I'll get you fixed up," Mrs. Pierce offered her a hand and helped her stand up.

"We can't go in there," Santana said, using her super serious tone.

"And why's that?" she replied, trying to act along with whatever game she figured Santana was playing.

"I have to talk to you and it's really important and Brit can't know I'm here," she said.

"Why not Santana? Is something wrong?" she wondered.

"Please, just trust me. Can we wait until Brittany and Mr. Pierce leave? It's private," Santana pleaded.

"Honey, don't be silly. They already left," she explained.

"Really? But Mr. Pierce's car is still here," she observed.

"It's acting up again, I guess. They took my car. He's going to work on it later this afternoon when they get back from fishing. Come on now, we can patch up this boo- boo and we'll talk,"

"Boo-boo? Mama P, I'm not a baby anymore. I'm gonna be 13 in two months," Santana quipped, being lead across the street by Mrs. Pierce, who had her arm wrapped lovingly around Santana's shoulders.

"Yes I know…I guess I just miss you girls and your coloring books and Lion King backpacks and your club house. You two were so cute when you were little," she explains, pinching Santana's cheek before opening the front door for her. Santana, knowing this routine well, having scraped her knees and elbows plenty of times at Brittany's, obediently walked to the downstairs bathroom and sat on the edge of the tub.

Mrs. Pierce followed swiftly behind, having stopped in the kitchen to grab Santana a cookie to munch on.

"Nice," Santana grinned in approval, taking a bite as Mrs. Pierce reached for the first aid kit.

"You're still my little garbage disposal around here, kid. Do you ever get full?" she asked, shaking the bottle of disinfectant, preparing to spray it on Santana's injured elbow.

"Nope, always hungry," Santana replied, spewing a few cookie crumbs out of her mouth in the process. She winced as the medicine hit her scrape.

"Almost done…" Mrs. Pierce said gently, rubbing some ointment on the cut and covering it with a bandage. In true mom fashion, after making sure the colorful bandage was secure in place, she leaned forward and finished it off with a kiss.

"Now, how about we head into the kitchen for some more cookies and milk and we can talk?" she suggested, putting away her first aid kit. Santana nodded and shuffled into the kitchen, eyes widening when she saw the plate full of chocolate chip cookies on the counter. She took a seat and dove in anxiously while Mrs. Pierce poured two glasses of milk.

"What did you want to talk about, Santana?" she says, putting her glass down in front of her. Santana took a deep breath nervously.

"Why did you say Brittany was going to die?" she asked, looking more at the cookie in her hands than into Mrs. Pierce's eyes.

"What?" Mrs. Pierce nearly choked on the word.

"Last week when we had our sleepover, Brits was real sad and I asked her why and she said she heard you say to somebody that she was going to die. Like when she's 30 or something," Santana explained. Mrs. Pierce was stunned into silence, attempting to massage the stress wrinkles from her forehead as she thought.

"That's why I left and got grounded…I wanted my dad to help her. But he said he can't. Mama P…what's wrong with Brits?" she asked.

"Santana, honey…it's very complicated," she explained, on the verge of tears.

"I've been reading about it on the computer. Werner Syn…Syndrome, right? It's when a baby starts growing too fast, and then when they're like 5 they look like they're 15. Right?"

"That's part of it. Honey do you remember when you met Brittany? When you girls were eight years old? Didn't you notice anything different back then?"

"I guess so…but it didn't matter. Cause back then I didn't know that it was hurting her and making her die," Santana admitted.

"It's not that it's making her die…it's just that Brittany is going to go through all the stages of her life a lot faster than you and I. Just like she got her period when she was four and a half,"

"If she's going to live faster, though…that means she's going to die faster too," Santana deduced.

"Santana this isn't something I want you worrying about, okay? Brittany has a great life ahead of her. She's so incredibly blessed to have a friend like you. And I promise I will talk to her, okay?" Mrs. Pierce attempted to pull herself together. Santana sighed and started digging in her pockets.

"This is all my allowance since I was seven. My mom always told me it's good to save money, so I saved it all except one time I used some to buy me and Brits that giant bucket of popcorn at the movies. But there's still four hundred eleven dollars there. We can give it to a doctor and he can fix what's wrong with Brittany," she offered, shoving the cash over to Mrs. Pierce. She shook her head adoringly.

"Honey that's so sweet of you. But you keep it. I've already paid a lot of doctors a lot of money and I still do. If they ever find a way to fix it, I'll be the first one to know," she explained.

"I don't want her to die," Santana said, starting to cry.

"Sweetheart…please don't worry about that okay? You know why I love that Brittany has you in her life? Because ever since she met you, she's happy. She doesn't feel different every second of her life anymore. Please keep doing that for her Santana. Be her rock, like you've always been," Mrs. Pierce begs. Santana wipes a few tears off her cheeks and nods. She knows Mrs. Pierce is right. Brittany did tell her she was trying not to think about it. So maybe she could try that herself.

Mrs. Pierce got up from her seat and wrapped Santana in a tight hug.

"How about we have a girls day, huh? You can pick out some movies off the satellite for us to watch or we can play a game…whatever you want,"

"Movies sound good. And food?" she looked up hopefully. Mrs. Pierce chuckled and ruffled Santana's hair.

"We'll order some Chinese or something, goofball. Go on in I'll be right there," she told her. Santana scampered off, the plate of cookies in hand, to the living room. Mrs. Pierce sighed and hung her head in her hands. She honestly didn't know what to do. Sure, she had been able to comfort Santana but now it would only be a matter of time before Brittany herself started asking questions. And she had no clue how she was going to answer those.

"Strength…" she whispered to herself.

"She's your baby. You knew this was coming eventually. She's twelve years old. She deserves an explanation," she continued. She retrieved her cell phone from the kitchen counter to send a quick text to her husband.

_That talk we've been putting off…it's time._


	9. Chapter 9

_I'm glad you guys are liking this so far. Please, I'll say again, some parts of this story are going to be sad, but I hope you'll keep reading because if you give it a chance I think you'll like it in the end. Really not trying to be evil…just trying to tell their story in a different way. _

Brittany ran into the house excitedly, not caring that she was soaked from head to toe and covered in what Santana called 'worm gunk'.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hang back there, speedy! You better get back outside and shake off. Your mom won't be very happy if you drip lake water all over her hardwood floors," her father hollered. She froze in her tracks, standing over the welcome mat in the foyer while he grabbed her a towel from the hall closet.

"Can't believe you fell in the drink, kid. You smell like my tackle box," he joked as he wrapped the towel around her shoulders.

"Dad! No I don't!" she giggled, eagerly slipping out of her soggy sneakers and socks.

"Oh goodness, what happened to you?" Mrs. Pierced wondered as she sauntered in to greet them.

"Mom it was so cool! I caught this giant bass! He was so huge! When I tried to let him go he wiggled and it scared me and I fell in the lake," she announced proudly.

"Kid caught more damn fish than I did," her father admitted, pecking the side of his wife's head.

"Well that's great honey. Why don't you go take a shower? That lake water's no good for your skin," Mrs. Pierce suggested.

"Okay mom," she agreed.

"Santana's here. We were having a girl's day and she fell asleep. I already told her she could stay for dinner," she told Brittany.

"Cool! Wait, why did Sanny come over? She knew I always go out with dad on Sundays," Brittany pondered.

"We wanted to have a girls day. So we watched that Mean Girls movie you two are so fond of, which young lady, I'm not so sure I approve of anymore, and the four of us will be having a talk at dinner," she told Brittany, using her pointer finger for emphasis.

"Mom, it's a good movie! It's funny," Brittany argued.

"All those girls do is back stab each other and try to steal each other's boyfriends. And some of the outfits they wear…if I ever saw you or Santana like that I'd have a stroke," she explained.

"Mom, it's just a funny movie, that's all. Me and Sanny don't even care about boys," Brittany told her.

"You better not! If any boy shows up here looking for you I'll break his neck!" Mr. Pierce hollered from the kitchen after taking a few large gulps of milk out of the carton.

"Gosh if I'm not catching Brittany doing it, I'm catching you! And if it's not either of you, it's Santana! Am I the only one around here who uses a glass?" she pretended to scold him, not being able to hide her smirk. Brittany grinned too, liking the way her mother always referred to Santana as if she was part of their family. She was, Brittany thought. She was there all the time, ate their food, used their shower and even drank out of their milk and juice cartons, just like Brittany and her dad.

Brittany giggled as her father let out a sizeable belch.

"Out of milk dear," he told her, tossing the empty container in the trash.

"I'll go get some. God forbid there's no milk at dinner for the three little pigs," she chuckled reaching for her keys.

"I'll go, babe. I have to get some stuff for my car anyway. And besides…your car may or may not smell like a dead fish," he told her, snatching the keys from her and planting a kiss on her lips. Brittany couldn't help but laugh at their exchange.

"Always a charmer Mr. Pierce," she smiled.

"Brittany how we doing on that shower?" she continued.

"Going ma!" she announced and ran upstairs to get in the shower.

a few hours later…

"Sanny. Sanny wake up. Sanny wake up!" Brittany tried to shake her best friend from her slumber on the couch.

"Eric, go away you lame-o," Santana mumbled, covering her face with the blanket Mrs. Pierce had thrown over her earlier.

"What? Sanny, I'm not your brother! I'm Brittany!" she replied, shaking Santana again.

"Brits?" she responded, pulling the blanket down to uncover her eyes.

"Brits you're back from fishing already?" she pondered.

"Sanny it's dinner time! Come on," she tried pulling Santana up.

"What are we having?" she wondered.

"Mom made macaroni and cheese and salad and my dad made steaks on the grill!" she exclaimed.

"Steak? Yes!" Santana pumped her fist a few times in victory and raced Brittany to the dining room.

"Well, looks like sleeping beauty is finally up. Have a nice nap, champ?" Mr. Pierce greeted Santana, ruffling her hair.

"Papa P, I have to nap two hours every day to reach my ultimate awesomeness," she explained, taking her normal seat at the table.

"I see. Weird though, when you two have your sleepovers I hear an awful lot of yapping and giggling, but not much sleeping goes on," he pointed out as Santana shoveled mac and cheese onto her plate.

"Well me and Brits have an awesome sleepover planned for my birthday. We're gonna eat 20 pizzas and watch scary movies and pull an all nighter," Santana explained. Brittany nodded excitedly.

"This is all going on at your house right Santana?" he wondered.

"Yeah, course. My parents are throwing me this sweet party. Quinn and Tina and Mercedes and Rachel are coming, but only Brits is sleeping over," she told him.

"Six girls and twenty pizzas huh? Good luck with that. And six girls? Good luck Dr. Lopez and Eric," he chuckled, cutting into his food.

"Eric won't be there, he's going to baseball camp this summer," she explained.

"Well that sounds fun. And you have soccer camp again?" Mrs. Pierce wondered.

"Yeah but it's only a week this year," she told them.

"I wish you didn't have soccer camp Sanny," Brittany pouted.

"It's okay, Brits. It'll go real fast. And mom said if I don't get in trouble while I'm there, when I come back she'll take us to Cedar Point," she promised.

"Why does she think you'll get in trouble, Santana?" Mrs. Pierce asked.

"Cause last year at camp, there was this annoying girl in my cabin named Steph. And we were on the same scrimmage team and she wanted to play right wing, but everybody knows I'm the best right wing ever, so coach made her play left wing. So she got mad and kept kicking the ball at me when I wasn't looking. So I got really mad and I ran across the field and tackled her into the bench with all the Gatorade cups. Couch got real mad at that and we both had to play halfback for the rest of camp. And halfback is just lame," she explained, tearing into her mac and cheese. Brittany giggled at the story.

"What about you Brittany? What do you want to do this summer? Maybe we could find a camp you might like?" her mother suggested.

"No…I don't like camp," she said.

"You don't know that, Brittany. You've never been to camp," she replied.

"I don't want to go to stupid camp!" Brittany burst out.

"Hey! Don't talk to your mother like that, Brittany. She's just trying to help you not be bored this summer," her father cut in.

"Mom, you know the other kids at camp won't like me. I really don't want to go," she said.

"Okay, honey. You don't have to go," she answered, looking down at her plate, pushing the food around with her fork.

"Karen…you alright?" Mr. Pierce asked.

"Yeah. Yeah…I'm fine," she grinned.

"Mom…it's true, isn't it?" Brittany blurted out, sensing the pain in her mother's eyes wasn't from her outburst about camp.

"What honey?"

"What you told Aunt Robin on the phone last week? That I'm gonna die soon?" she asked sincerely. Mr. Pierce cleared his throat loudly. Santana stopped eating mid-chew. Mrs. Pierce dropped her fork onto her plate.

"It's okay, mom. I get it. At first I was really scared. I still am a little. But now I'm just kind of happy that I know what's wrong with me. And I know that you guys tried to protect me from it my whole life so far. But I think it's easier for me to deal with now," she admitted. Mrs. Pierce couldn't stop the tears rolling down her cheeks. She knew that honesty was the only card left to play in this, and after hearing how honest Brittany had just been, and how honest Santana was earlier about her feelings, she knew as she gripped her husband's hand for comfort that it was time.

"Brittany, when your father and I got married we wanted a baby more than anything in the world. And we tried and tried so hard to get pregnant, but it took us almost a year. The doctor's didn't even think it was possible at first. But one day, I just knew you were in there and we were both so happy. And your dad was so in love with you from the start. They say a woman becomes a mother when she gets pregnant, but a man doesn't become a father until he holds his baby…well that wasn't true for your dad. He used to rub my belly and talk to you every day. And he took such good care of us, making sure I had everything I needed while you were growing in me. And everything was going so well until about 7 months in. We were at a wedding actually, for one of your dad's co-workers, and I went into labor. So we rushed to the hospital and five hours later, there you were. I was so terrified I was having you so early, but it turns out you came out a normal size baby, breathing and totally okay. But after we took you home, you outgrew all your infant clothes in a week and a half. You were just growing so fast it blew our minds. So we took you to a pediatrician…and he consulted a bunch of other doctors. We drove all over Ohio and even to a few places in Pennsylvania until somebody finally figured out what was wrong," she explained. By this time she was getting choked up on tears. Mr. Pierce cleared his throat to continue.

"Princess, you have something called Werner Syndrome. I know you figured most of it out on your own by now. But it's what made you grow so fast. So even though you're only 12, you look mom's age. Your brain is the only part of your body that is really 12. Your body ages three times faster than your mind, that's how the doctors explained it to us," he told her.

"So when I'm 20 I'll look like I'm…60?" she wondered.

"Yes. It also means you'll have a shortened life span. Something we should have talked to you about sooner, I guess, and we're sorry," he continued, starting to get teary eyed himself.

"It's okay dad. Mom. I get how it's hard for you guys too. And even though it's scary, at least I don't have to worry about being alone. Cause you guys and Sanny would never let that happen right?" she questioned.

"You will never be alone, sweetheart. We all love you very much, and no matter what we will always be your family. Santana too," her mother choked through tears.

"Yeah Brits. Bestest friends forever, remember?" Santana interjected.

"Yeah. Forever," Brittany grinned, letting Santana hold her hand on top of the table.

"I don't want any of us to cry anymore okay? Cause I don't feel old yet so I don't think I'm going to die very soon," Brittany told them.

"Okay. From now on, we just all love each other and be happy, okay?" her father agreed. As Mrs. Pierce and Santana nodded to agree he stood up and hugged his daughter tightly, kissing her head repeatedly.

"You are so brave kid. Where did you get that from?" he wondered, holding her cheeks as he looked into her crystal blue eyes proudly. Brittany grinned as she realized the answer to his question.

"I got it from Sanny bear,"


	10. Chapter 10

_**Just want to thank you guys all for sticking with this story. I am learning it's hard to write two fics simultaneously, especially when they are so incredibly different. Going back and forth between this and a straight up comedy is tricky. In any case, if you haven't read my other fic The Edge yet, check it out. **_

_**As always…review ;)**_

By the summer before their freshman year in high school, Brittany was starting for feel less and less like a kid. Sure, she still thought like one. Still loved doing what all the teenagers her age were doing. She loved going to Cedar Point, and staying out late with Santana. But she couldn't help but notice that on those nights when they stayed out late, she got sleepy hours before Santana did. Her back was pretty achey these days too. She used to be able to run and jump and climb just like Santana, but these days even a long walk would leave her craving a hot bubble bath to soothe her sore muscles.

But she tried to ignore it. She especially didn't want Santana to know she was starting to feel different. They hadn't mentioned Brittany's fate to one another since that night when they were twelve, but they both thought about it constantly when they were alone.

Brittany wasn't too scared anymore. She just wanted to make sure she captured as many of her dreams as she could before it was too late. Other than that, she concentrated hard in school, tried new things whenever she had the chance, and spent as much time with her best friend Santana as possible.

She was nervous about starting high school, sure. But Santana seemed completely confident as they looked at their schedules, comparing classes a few days before school started.

"I have math first period! That sucks," Santana whined.

"Oh. I have math after lunch," Brittany replied.

"That's good Brits. What about English?" Santana wondered.

"I have it last," she said.

"Me too. At least we have one class together," Santana shrugged.

"I'm gonna miss middle school. We had all our classes together," Brittany pouted.

"It's okay, Brit. Eric told me the first day of high school they let you pick what clubs you want to join. So we'll just pick all the same clubs," Santana assured her. Brittany loved that no matter what was bothering her, Santana knew exactly what to say to make her feel better.

"Sanny…are you gonna get a boyfriend in high school?" Brittany asked. Santana looked at her and shrugged.

"I dunno. I don't really like any of the boys in our grade," Santana replied.

"Oh. Cause Quinn has a boyfriend. And she told me if we didn't get boyfriends we wouldn't be popular," Brittany explained.

"Well her boyfriend is ugly and stupid. We're gonna be popular Brit cause we're awesome," Santana bragged.

"Yeah. You're right," Brittany grinned. She wasn't sure if she wanted a boyfriend. But she didn't want to decide that she didn't, not yet. She knew it would be hard to find a boy who would be able to like her without being freaked out by her condition. But it didn't mean it was impossible. So she decided to keep herself open to it, just in case.

"I'm gonna go get us a snack Sanny," Brittany announced, heading out of her room toward the stairs. Santana put her schedule back in her back pack and decided to put Brittany's away for her too. Brittany had pulled it out of her beloved rainbow binder that she used for school every year, no matter how tattered and worn it got. Santana opened the binder and a loose piece of paper flew out onto the floor. She leaned over to pick it up and noticed a long list written in purple pen. She couldn't help but read it.

'_Things to do Before I Die. By Brittany S. Pierce. 1- Try sushi. 2- Swim with a dolphin. 3- Have candy for dinner. 4- Learn how to ski or surf. 5- Have a clubhouse, an outside one like I couldn't have when I was little. 6- Go to a school dance. 7- Try a drink with alcohol in it. 8- Eat a whole pizza by myself. 9- Convince mom and dad to let me have a puppy or kitten. 10- Watch Santana's college graduation…_

Santana felt her heart seize as she read the list. Brittany was getting prepared for her own death, and that killed Santana. It somehow made it real to her, and she didn't want it to be. Without even really thinking about it, Santana folded the paper a few times and shoved it in the pocket of her jeans. She picked up Brittany's rainbow binder and put it back into her book bag. She hadn't even really realized as a tear started to roll down her cheek.

…A few days later…

Santana had spent nearly every free moment she had reading over Brittany's list. Honestly, she didn't really know what to make of it. How could Brittany already know everything she wanted to do in life? Santana didn't even know what she wanted to eat for lunch most days, and her favorite color had changed about twenty times since she was five years old. Decisive was one thing Santana was not, she lived in the moment and did what she wanted. So to see Brittany's whole future scribbled out on this page in purple pen scared her quite a bit.

Santana did manage to make one important decision about her future, though. The more she looked at the list, the more she realized she wanted to make sure every single thing on that list happened for her best friend. Sure, some of it would be hard, she was only 14, so she couldn't exactly make it all happen, yet. So she'd handle the easy ones first, and even add a few of her own. Because Santana truly believed she'd had some amazingly fun experiences in her life, definitely a lot more things she wanted to share with Brittany. She was still convinced to get Brittany on a roller coaster with loops, for instance, because in all their trips to amusement parts, Brittany would only go on the ones that didn't flip you upside down. They were one of Santana's favorite thing in the world. She also really wanted to try this ice cream challenge at a diner in their town, her brother worked there and told her about it when she was younger. They put 45 scoops of different ice cream in a bowl with whatever toppings you wanted and if you could eat it all you got your picture on the wall. You were allowed to do it with one other person if you wanted. Santana loved ice cream, but she knew she'd need another stomach to help her out. Maybe she'd be able to convince Brittany to do it with her. She'd even toyed with the idea of trying to convince her parents to let her and Brittany go to a concert without their supervision. That was gonna be a tough one, but she was determined. Santana knew from that moment on, no matter what, she was going to make all of Brittany's dreams come true.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Sorry I'm running behind on updating this! Things have been super busy, and I actually took some time to work on a few different fics, but nobody really latched on to them like I had hoped. So I'll just focus on this one and the Edge, they seem to be the ones you guys like the most.**_

_**And again, I know you're all nervous about this being sad…but I will say this: some of the best fics I've read here had me crying like a baby the whole time…so I really hope you'll stick with it! **_

_**Enjoy and as always, I love your reviews. Don't be shy ;)**_

Brittany sat in her fourth period science class bored out of her mind. She hated science, because it was her last class before lunch and she was always starving by that time. Today they were learning about chemical reactions or something…she wasn't so much listening to Mr. Jacoby as she was doodling in her notebook.

She also couldn't wait for lunch because she hadn't seen Santana since their lockers this morning and lunchtime with Santana was her favorite time of day. She especially loved it because Santana had her computer applications class this period and hated the teacher, so she was always super riled up by the time she got to lunch and that always made Brittany laugh. Brittany couldn't help but chuckle when Santana lost her temper with other people, because Santana had never once lost her temper with her. It blew her away how nice Santana always was to her.

By the time the bell rang, Brittany scribbled the pages for her homework reading down in her notebook and scampered to her locker. This is where her and Santana would usually meet to grab their lunches and walk to the cafeteria together.

She was a little confused when Santana wasn't there, but shrugged it off figuring she may have had to stay back so Mrs. Garrison could yell at her for throwing paper or making noise or whatever shenanigans she probably got into during class. Brittany laughed to herself at the thought and grabbed her lunch, heading downstairs to the cafeteria. She walked in toward the near corner, right by the condiment table where they always sat. She was surprised to see Santana already sitting there, a whole ton of food spread out on the table.

"Sanny, what's this?" she asked.

"Sit down, Brits. We're gonna try sushi today," Santana winked.

"Really? Where'd that come from?" she wondered.

"My dad's leftovers," she lied with a shrug. Truth was, she begged her mom to drive her into town to get it. She wasn't too sure about it herself, but it was on Brittany's list and it seemed like the easiest thing to start with. So she spent fifty dollars of her allowance getting different kinds of rolls and sauces, so she was going to dive in.

"This is cool, Sanny. Guess I don't need my ham and cheese sandwich. You want it for later? I know you get hungry if you don't eat before soccer practice," Brittany offered, handing her brown bag over to her.

"Thanks Brits. I'll slam that down in the locker room later. Let's try this stuff," she commented, handing Brittany a pair of chopsticks. She fiddled with them nervously, growing frustrated that she couldn't seem to pick anything up with them. Right when she looked up to ask for help, she saw Santana having the same struggle, sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth in concentration.

"Sanny maybe we need forks," Brittany laughed.

"I look that stupid huh?" Santana replied. Brittany nodded and reached over to the condiment table, grabbing two plastic forks.

"I can't do it either, Sanny. Thanks for this. I always wanted to try sushi," Brittany admitted, handing Santana a fork. Santana just smiled and picked a roll at random, waiting for Brittany to do the same. They looked at each other before taking a bite at the same time.

"Yum!" Brittany exclaimed with her mouth still full. Santana was slightly less amused, but grinned at the fact that Brittany was already digging for more.

"Glad you like it, Brits," she declared.

"Do you?" Brittany wondered, already munching on her second roll and trying to pick her third.

"It's not bad," she replied, picking up one of the ones with crab in it that Brittany had just tried and taking a bite. She was just happy Brittany liked it so much. In her head she mentally checked one thing off Brittany's list.

Before Santana could reach for another bite she started feeling funny. The room seemed to get really hot really fast and her throat felt kind of itchy. She coughed a few times to try and get rid of it but it didn't do much.

"Sanny? Are you okay?" Brittany asked. Santana just nodded, still coughing but this time because she was finding it hard to breathe.

"Oh my God San! Your face is swelling! Come on we're going to the nurse!" Brittany exclaimed, reaching for Santana's hand and pulling her as fast as she could to the nurse's office.

…

Luckily, the nurse had some kind of shot Brittany had never seen before and Santana started to feel better right away when the nurse jabbed her with it, but they still decided to call her mom and send her to the hospital to be on the safe side.

So after a lot of begging, Brittany rode along with Santana's mom to the hospital since they wouldn't let her go in the ambulance that had left almost half an hour ago by the time Mrs. Lopez picked her up.

They made their way to Santana's room, where Santana was laying in a bed hooked up to an IV and looking pretty drowsy.

"Santana, baby what happened?" her mother rushed over to her. Brittany stayed near the door, letting them have their moment and feeling terrible Santana had ended up here.

"I'm okay mom," she replied weakly. Her face wasn't as swollen anymore, but there were hints of a splotchy rash there and on Santana's arms. Her mother kissed her head repeatedly and Brittany moved to the other side of the bed.

"Hi Sanny," she said softly.

"Hey Brits. Don't be sad, I'm fine," she assured her. Before Brittany could speak again, a young doctor in green scrubs and a lab coat came in. Brittany thought he smelled like coffee and soap.

"Well, looks like someone's allergic to shellfish," he greeted, thinking he was funnier than he actually was.

"That damn sushi! I should've known," her mother shook her head, arching an eyebrow at Santana.

"Mom, chill. So can I go home?" Santana asked.

"I just have you on some antihistamines to get you over the reaction you had, once the bag's done you can go. But I want you to rest the remainder of the night and don't eat sushi!" he exclaimed, scribbling on a pad and ripping off a small slip of paper.

"Here's a script for an EpiPen, mom. Get that filled for future problems. Always good to have one on hand when you have a kid with allergies like this. Wouldn't be a bad idea for her to see an allergist, make sure there's nothing else you have to worry about," he advised, handing Santana's mother the paper.

"Thank you, doctor," she nodded, putting it her purse.

"Well, once they discharge you we'll go get this from the drug store and we'll take Brittany home, then you're going home and going to bed," her mother ordered.

"Mom, can Brittany come over for dinner?" Santana asked.

"You are a piece of work kid. Here in the hospital cause you have food allergies and you still can't stop thinking about food," her mom chuckled.

"Well mom, I'm not allergic to pizza," she pointed out, slapping on her best begging face.

"Brittany you can come over for dinner but we aren't having pizza. And no goofing off, you're supposed to rest! You two can watch a movie or something," her mother agreed. The girls looked at each other grinning and shared a subtle high five.

….

Brittany and Santana were relaxing on the couch watching TV, enjoying the barbecued chicken and potatoes Mrs. Lopez made them for dinner. Santana was fully captivated by the show, but Brittany couldn't get her mind off the events of the afternoon.

"Sanny…why did you decide for us to have sushi today?" she asked.

"Just cause, Brits. It looked good," she answered, not taking her eyes off the TV. Brittany nodded, watching the way Santana's orange hospital bracelet slid up and down her arm as she shoveled spoonfuls of potatoes into her mouth.

"I feel bad it made you sick," Brittany announced.

"Why? It was my idea," Santana replied, this time, turning to meet Brittany's gaze.

"Sanny, I have to tell you something," Brittany admitted, putting her plate down on the coffee table in front of her. Santana nodded, listening intently.

"Nobody else knows this, okay? So you can't tell anybody," Brittany continued.

"Promise," Santana nearly whispered, nervous about what she was about to hear.

"I kind of…made a…list. Of all the stuff I want to do before I die. It's just silly stuff. Anyway, I lost it. I think maybe my mom threw it away when she cleaned my room. But I put on it that I wanted to try sushi. It's just weird how you knew it, Sanny. It's like you're my guardian angel. I was so happy when we were having sushi today but then you got sick and it made me feel bad, cause you were being my guardian angel and you got hurt," Brittany ended with a pout.

"It's okay Brits! I just can't eat sushi with you anymore. But I promise I'll always be your guardian angel. I mean, isn't that what a guardian angel is supposed to do? Take care of you so you can be happy, even if I have to be sick or hurt or sad for a little bit? Trust me, Brits. You don't have to sad. I like this food better anyway," Santana replied, taking a huge bite out of her chicken. Brittany laughed at the smear of sauce that now covered Santana's face.

"Sanny…you're the best guardian angel anybody ever had,"

_**Well there you go, just a cute little update. What's next on the list? Guess you'll have to stay tuned to find out. Promise it won't be too long for an update this time!**_

_**Review!**_


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